Spacetech unicorn Skyroot created history by becoming the first private Indian company to place a rocket into orbit. Its Vikram-1 launch vehicle completed ‘Mission Aagaman’ after lifting off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, marking one of the defining moments for India’s startup ecosystem and private space industry.
The mission successfully injected customer payloads and hosted experiments from domestic and international customers into the intended 450-km Low Earth Orbit after completing all major flight events, including stage separations and orbital insertion. It also validated Vikram-1’s propulsion, telemetry, avionics, guidance, navigation, control and stage separation systems under actual flight conditions.
Standing seven storeys tall, Vikram-1 is a four-stage launch vehicle capable of carrying payloads of up to 480 kg to Low Earth Orbit and 290 kg to Sun Synchronous Orbit. The rocket combines solid propulsion across its first three stages with a liquid-propellant orbital adjustment stage, besides incorporating 3D-printed engines and pneumatic stage separation systems.
Ahead of the launch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished the Skyroot team success, describing Mission Aagaman as a landmark moment for India’s growing private space ecosystem. Following the successful mission, Modi also spoke to the Skyroot team over phone and congratulated them on the achievement.
The mission builds on Skyroot’s Vikram-S launch in 2022, when the startup became the first private Indian company to launch a suborbital rocket. Unlike Vikram-S, which served as a technology demonstration mission, Vikram-1 marked Skyroot’s first successful orbital mission, paving the way for commercial satellite launch services.
Following the successful maiden mission, Skyroot plans up to two more Vikram-1 launches this year before introducing Vikram-1U, an upgraded version with strap-on boosters, in the first quarter of 2027. Simultaneously, it is also developing Vikram-2, a one-tonne-class launch vehicle powered by a cryogenic upper stage, as it expands its launch vehicle portfolio.
The launch comes two months after Skyroot raised $60 Mn in a funding round co-led by existing investors Sherpalo Ventures and GIC at a pre-money valuation of $1.1 Bn, becoming India’s first spacetech unicorn.
Founded in 2018 by former ISRO scientists Pawan Kumar Chandana and Naga Bharath Daka, Skyroot develops modular launch vehicles for the global small satellite market. The startup’s 2 lakh sq ft Infinity Campus in Hyderabad has the capacity to manufacture one orbital rocket every month.
The mission also represents one of the biggest outcomes of India’s space sector reforms, which opened launch activities to private companies under the supervision of IN-SPACe. With India’s spacetech sector projected to become a $77 Bn market by 2030, Vikram-1’s maiden mission is widely seen as a defining moment for the country’s private space ambitions and a significant step towards establishing India as a global commercial launch destination.
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